Book Nook

I've decided to add a new feature to my blog and share some of the books I like. In the past I have had quite a problem with purchasing books. A few years ago when my bookcase was just too full I decided to donate some books to the Biblical Ed Center and the local public library. I gave away over 200 books and still had a nice collection of books that I kept. Since then I have been very careful about which books I choose to purchase and try to get most from the library.

There are a few series books that I will always buy - Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilt books top the list, then there are the Harry Potter books (no more to buy there lol), Debbie Maycomber's Cedar Cove series, MC Beaton's Death of A ......... (mystery series set in Scotland featuring Hamish MacBeth) and the Charlotte LaRue mystery series are not to be missed.

I am also interested in having a collection of books about the background of quilting.

While surfing on eBay one evening I came across This Old Quilt by Margret Aldrich. I like to look at the old quilts on eBay. Many are not in the best shape but can be simply lovely folded in a basket. And when I typed in old quilt this came up.



This book looked intriguing although the $20 price tag did not. But through a bit of searching online I was able to find it for $6.25 shipping included.

I haven't read it completely through but I've seen enough to know that it's going to be good. There are tons of pictures - an excerpt from the first Elm Creek Quilts book - some great artwork (Diane Phelan, Bob Pettes, Sandi Wickersham) and lots of stories.

I highly recommend that you look for this one at the library.

Until next time - hugs and stitches.

Jody

Brain Dead

Well here it is - my crochet project. It really is - like the title says - brain dead. Once you get the pattern going it's pretty mindless work - but it works up so pretty. This is the close up view so you can see the work.



This is the full view of what I've done so far. I have terrible problems with measurements on these things. Right now it's 15 by 38. But I think her original pattern said it was 48 by 36 and I wanted it wider so I added 24 more chains at the beginning but I only ended up with an extra 2 inches.



I always use a bigger hook than the pattern calls for because I have a tendency to pull my stitches really tight. Usually I go up two sizes for the chain and then go to the one in between (one up from what the pattern calls for and one down from what I used for the chain) for the pattern rows.

Oh, the soft pink color choice I had planned didn't work because Wal-Mart didn't have the right shade of pink. So I found this blue/green/white that I really like.

Earlier while I was working on it Rodger came in and sat down and looked at it kind of funny and said "have you given up on quilting?". Not in this lifetime. lol. Actually what I told him was that it's nice to be able to work on different things for a bit of variety.

And speaking of quilting, I ripped the binding off a quilt earlier today (had done it on the machine and I was less than happy with it) and I need to find some fabric and get a new binding made. The poor thing is laying there looking naked. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

I've been bitten

by the crochet bug. And I'm blaming this on my friend Molly. Between her projects and some blogs I found linked from her blog I feel the urge to crochet an afghan. I used to do this before I started quilting. I made at least one a year - during the winter to keep warm. It all started with my mom and she's been on mind a lot lately. She made ripple afghans to keep herself from snacking. She whipped them out so fast and they were so lovely. She never did anything but ripples so that's what I have an urge to make. However as I was looking around for a pattern I found a different pattern that I really like so I think I will grab a skein of yarn - I'm thinking soft pink - and work on that. As if I don't already have enough projects in the works. lol. But this one is called "brain dead" because it's supposed to be very easy. Back in the day I could crochet a pattern I was familiar with without even looking at what I was doing and I have hopes I can do this one that way and then I could work on it while I help the kids with their homework. So I'm off to Bible study (we're doing the Mayberry study and I love it) and to pick up a skein of yarn on the way home.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

Since I updated you last

I started and finished two more tops. I always say I won't start anything new until I finish up something but I was working on some Autumn swap blocks and these three fabrics were laying together and I thought they would make an awesome rail fence quilt. So I whipped it up - miscalculating the fabric I would need I ended up going to the store four times. lol. But I love the way it turned out. I doubt I'll have it quilted in time to use this year but there's always next year.




I also did a Christmas quilt. I have a snowman one I am working on and it's so cute but with all the tiny pieces I have my doubts I can finish it for this year. So my dear friend Barb had given me a few blocks. It's so neat how these quilting projects work out. For the snowman quilt I needed small pieces of Christmas fabrics for the scarves and with 20 different snowmen I didn't want to have to get 20 different fabrics so I asked the awesome ladies on the QWHT group if they had any small print pieces that they could send me. I got such lovely pieces from many of the ladies. In with the pieces Barb sent me were some finished quilt blocks that she thought I might tear apart to use the fabrics for the scarves. But I decided to just make more of the blocks and it resulted in this quilt:



I'm not really into scrappy but I think this one looks nice.

Other quilting projects I have worked on include two round robins - I can't post pictures of them now because the ladies I did the work for just might try to get a peek at them and they need to be surprised. So next year - when they make their way back to their owners - I will post pictures of all the rounds I did on the round robins.

Until next time - hugs and stitches.

Jody

Here we are again - a month later

I'm not doing so well at posting weekly - well I guess I am posting weakly. I suppose as I get more comfortable with this stuff maybe I'll post more often. Maybe it's just that there's no news to post. lol. But the past month has been very full. We got Ryan off to college the last weekend of August with the truck loaded to the top.




We learned two very important lessons on our first foray into moving into the dorms - if moving times are 12-4 don't go before 2. We got there at 1 and had to wait in the truck in line for a parking place. Then we couldn't get close to the curb (where you were to unload and there were student helpers to help you carry your things in) so we had to drag everything through the parking lot and carry it all ourselves. Well, Rodger and Ryan carried it all - Cassie and I stayed with the stuff still in the parking lot. Ryan's roommate came at 2:00 and was able to park right in front of the door to the dorm and was unloaded in no time. The second thing is take a dolly. We have two and didn't even think to take one with us. Carrying that little refrigerator was a bit awkward. There was a really nice couple I was talking to while we were waiting and they let us borrow theirs for the last large box we had. Next time we will remember our dolly - when we don't show up until after 2.

On the quilting front I have been working a lot on swap stuff. I'm doing two round robins on two separate groups. I did a basket of flowers for the QWHT group



and a Sunbonnet Sue for TQS.



I'm also working on log cabin blocks for a TQS swap. I did manage to finish up one quilt that I'm calling Confetti. I plan to sandwich my row by row from QWHT's swap today - it's my last top to quilt. I guess that means I need to get another top finished so I'll have something to quilt once that one is done. I'm working on a snowman quilt for Christmas this year.

I guess that's all the excitement for now. Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Perseverance

Well this is my most recently finished quilt. I'm calling it Perseverance because there were so many times I just wanted to chuck it in the trash. I do not do well quilting if you need to go to the complete edge of the quilt. Actually I don't do well handquilting to the edge and I was handquilting this one. I stitched in the ditch around the black areas and then there are flowers and butterflies on the cream part. The flowers and butterflies don't really show up because the thread is too light. Of course the green I used for the stems and leaves does show up. Live and learn. The in the ditch was what I was having the problems with. When I got to the edge it always got puckered or bunched or something. I even at one point put it on the machine but I didn't have much luck with that either. But I was determined to get it finished. The fabric was a gift from my kids this past Mother's Day. The black is from one of the Elm Creek Quilts collections - Dorothea's. I just love it. I did have the foresight to snap a picture of the flowers before I washed out the blue markings so that the pattern could be seen. Now I'm on to a few other things. I have two round robins with online groups going or starting. I have until September 15 to come up with a center for the second one. The first one is off and I believe right now on to the third or fourth person. I'm also doing a log cabin swap in Autumn fabrics. Autumn is absolutely my favorite season. I'm going to use the log cabins in another quilt I'm making. It's a medallion with additional rounds. I think the log cabin round is the fifth or sixth so I have plenty to work on until the swap is completed.

Until next time. Hugs and stitches.

Catching up

Well it's been almost a month since I last posted. So much for posting weekly. I suppose I'm posting "weakly". So what has been happening? My dh and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary this month. We went out for Chinese - without the kids. He got me the most beautiful necklace. It's heart shaped and there are two roses on it. They are separate at the top but joined at the bottom. That's us - separate but joined.

Ryan had his placement testing and orientation for college two days after our anniversary so while we were in California we went to a movie. We saw Live Free or Die Hard. The Die Hard movies are my guilty pleasure. We very seldom go to a movie theater so it was a real treat. We stayed in a hotel that was supposed to have a 24 hour heated pool but it closed at 10 PM and it was cold so our thoughts of swimming half the night were not realized.

On the remodeling front Rodger is really cooking along. The kitchen is close to being finished. He put up shelves close to the ceiling for my collection of houses (like Cats Meow except most of them are Hometowne Collectibles). And he's putting up paneling that looks like brick. He pulled down the decorative wood that was above the sink and now I can hang a curtain there. He has a little bit more paneling to do and then he needs to do something with the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and finish up the trim. And painting. We'll paint after everything else is done. He's really pushing because it's almost football season and then everything will come to a dead stop until football season is over.

As for quilting I finally finished up the quilt I was making for my friend Julie. She got it and loves it and that makes me very happy :0) Now I'm doing some swap stuff. The QWHT group I'm on is doing a round robin. We did a row by row earlier in the year and it went so well that we decided to do this too. My row by row is gorgeous and I can't wait to finish it up. Right now I'm doing the handquilting on the quilt I made with the fabric the kids gave me for Mother's Day. I'm generally an "in the ditch" quilter but I'm doing flowers and butterflies on this one. I had done some hearts and a wreath design on a wallhanging and I really like how it looks so I wanted to do something more along those lines.

And speaking of QWHT I finally met the two ladies who live close to me. We have talked and talked and talked about getting together. But when Frances decided to move from VA to RI we decided we better stop talking and actually do something. So we met in Gaithersburg - Frances and Deborah and me. But Frances had a little surprise planned. Marilyn (another lady from our group who lives in IN) was there too! I've met Marilyn before but it was a real surprise to see her there. We had lunch at Panera and then went to Capital Quilts. We did a little shopping and all got a Capital Quilts pin to commemorate our trip. Then we went back to Panera and had chocolate!

I guess that's about it for today. Hopefully it won't be three weeks before I make on again.